Music – Business – Life.

Tag Archives: Whirly Ball

So I work at a management company called Hubbub and that management company is home to artists Bess Rogers and Rachel Platten. Rachel, a recent addition to Hubbub’s roster, met up with Bess Rogers and it was decided touring was in order. Well, they made their voyage down the east coast toward Atlanta Georgia where they were slotted to play the summer concert series Unplugged In The Park. It was a Hubbub night with JK & The Lost Boys, another Hubbub band, opening. An amazing three sets and plenty of food and beer later the group packed their gear up and headed to their hotel, the Artmore.

Now it’s important to note that the Artmore is a highly rated hotel, with great rooms, bar, service, and (most importantly) underground valet parking.

Unless you have a large van, then they roll your vehicle to the un-gated lot in the back, in midtown Atlanta…. with no guard…. and one security camera.

I think you know what I’m getting at.

A keyboard, drum-set, multiple microphones, a glockenspiel, various cords, all their merch, and, of course, the radio: all stolen.

Now there are ways of tracking this stuff down and you’ll all be glad to know that the cops are on it (we hope) but that’s not what I want to talk about.

I want to tell you all the story of how a group of musicians, 500 miles from home with half a tour left, did not allow a simple thing like theft stop them from rocking their fans.

With a day of whirly ball planned (google it if you’re not sure) it was hard to imagine seeing the musical troupe flying around in bumper cars having a good time, not to mention they had a Stage-it concert that evening they had to rock. We half expected them to want to cancel the whole day.

Arriving with an arsenal of tongue-in-cheek, “too-soon” type jokes; Bess, Rachel, Craig, and Martin did not let misfortune stop them from enjoying each other’s company. They took a crushing event and turned it into a moment in their lives that they could remember, passing around quips about the criminals true intention behind the crime. Like…

Secretly being fans that just wanted to own every Bess and Rachel shirt/CD possible (except of course Martin’s merch, which they didn’t steal).

They just wanted to show up at the shows to undercut the merch there and sell theirs at a lower price.

Or…

a secret conspiracy, where the equipment was handed off as an inside job.

Though there were moments of solemnness when certain realizations came to mind, like Martin’s insightful comment “I hate it because they’re probably playing some stupid melody on it.”

After getting lost on the way to whirly ball followed by five intense matches and feast of Chin Chin’s great cuisine, I’m sitting here watching them play for 50 very dedicated fans over the Internet. Rachel, with her keyboard rental; Bess, who saved her ukulele by bringing it into the hotel room; Martin, with his borrowed guitar; and Craig, with his trash-can drum set and pizza box kick, they played one of the best performances I’d ever seen. Full of jokes, laughter, wit, and friendly prodding these individuals’ upbeat attitude about life’s ups and downs shows us what’s really important. To these musicians inspiration comes from the love of friends, music, and supportive fans. I don’t think they’d have it any other way.

The kind of event that stop most musicians from pursuing a career only helped these bodacious bards come closer to obtaining one.